Down for the count
by actually.justanauthor
Summary: Hera is down and her time is running out. It doesn't take long for the crew to realize if they lose their pilot they may just lose the rebellion as well. (First chapter is a prologue)
1. Chapter 1

It all happened in slow motion. It was like they could stop and touch the blaster bullet that hurt her. The one person that they couldn't lose. The one person that brought them here, brought them all together, and made them a beautiful and quirky family.

The bullet, aimed to hit her in the head illuminated her features as she turned to face it. Painting a mask of horror and fear onto her face she tried to turn, tried to face away from a shot that could so easily end her life. It struck her body and she fell to the floor with a thud, a sound that would forever remain in the ears of her crew for the rest of their lives, haunting them as they wish they could have done more.

Hera was down and her time was running out.

To be continued….


	2. Chapter 2

Hera's P.O.V.

The blaster bolt hitting my neck was warm. It was was not just warm it was scalding. Blistering and scoring the skin of my neck. The blaster bolt was warm, then everything went cold.

I could hear my crew scream, as if the sounds of their voices, the noise could turn back the time. Make me faster, allow me to fully take cover before the bullets hit my skin turning it a marred shade of black.

I was falling. Softly though, as if i had just hit the water of a pool, and was now slowly sinking further and further into it's depths. It was almost peaceful really, calming to have those waves of the cold swallow me, allowing nothing more than an image of blurry light seep into my mind before everything went dark, before I went down.

Sabine P.O.V.

The image of Hera lying there, on the floor of the imperial shipping center would be burned in my brain forever.

It felt as if time had swallowed me. Locking me in place allowing me to do nothing more than stare with my mouth agape at my friend, my mother lying on the verge of death.

I then felt a tugging at the back of my mind, I needed to snap out of it. I was in a trance, a locked position of terror. I wasn't shooting, or defending myself, hell I wasn't even helping Hera. All I could feel was the dread that someone that I know and love was going to die, and they were going to die soon.

That's when I snapped out of it. I let out a shriek as I began to charge towards my fallen friend. Not caring about anything else but reaching her, making sure she was okay, making sure that I hadn't lost the only mother that I had known in a long time. "Sabine, stop", said Kanan from a distance. I ignored him. If he couldn't see how urgent of a situation this was then he didn't need to be listened too. "Sabine", I could here again this time it was from Ezra. He had a look of panic on his face like something bad was going to happen. I suddenly grew angry 'who were they to tell me what not and what to do. They aren't doing anything to help Hera, she is going to die if I don't get to her soon'.

That's when I looked up again and saw Ezra the look of panic now almost completely shading his face. "Duck", I saw his mouth form the word better than I could hear it, it took a moment for me to process the word that had come out of his mouth, a moment that I didn't have.

Everything went dark

To be continued…..


	3. Chapter 3

Approximately 16 hours later (Sabine's P.O.V.)

The room that I woke up in was not the room that I expected. It wasn't the colorful walls of the bedroom decorated with my colorful memories and inspirations. For one it was too bright, to white, and all in all to clean.

Grunting, I sat up in the bed I was in and placed my hands on either side of my body trying to sort through my memories and make sense as to what has happened. Then like a lake finally breaking free of the dam that had held it in place the memories came flowing back to me. The look on Hera's face as her features, full of panic, were illuminated by the light of the blaster bolt that brought her down. My own reckless behavior as I ran towards her, not paying any attention to my surroundings. The voices of Ezra and Kanan yelling at me, pleading with me to stay back, not to be so rash with my moves. And finally the face of Ezra as he said the word that echoed round and round in my head taking different forms, said in different voices. Run.

Finally gaining my bearings as my senses fully reacted to the setting that they were in I was hit with a strong wave a pain landing me short of breath and lying down on the pillows once again. "Sabine", I heard a voice say from the side of me. Jerking my head to the side to see who it was I was almost surprised to see the grim face of commander Sato looking back at me, an unreadable expression shading his eyes. "Commander", I said my voice shaking as I prepare myself for the answer to the question that I was about to ask, "Where is Hera, what happened to her, she's okay right, she is isn't she?" "I'm sorry Sabine", his voice thick with his Mykapian accent, "Hera, she didn't make it out.", His face turned down as if just for a second he was going to show an emotion other than one of his normal three emotions, but just like that, it was gone, as quick as it came.

My heart dropped to my stomach, my breaths began to become more hitched as I realized what his words actually meant. "We are not quite sure as to if Hera has passed or not", the commander continues, "but after you were taken down we had to extract your crew. You were the closest one to reach, we couldn't get to Hera in time. I am very sorry Sabine.", and with that he stood up slowly from his chair and turning to me he gave me a more apologetic nod as he exited the room.

"Ahhrehaz", I screamed standing up from the bed ripping the cover off of myself ignoring the pain that emerged from my abdomen. "Noooo.", I cried to no one in particular. Clutching my hands to my head I felt my knees go weak as I collapsed to the floor. It was over. It was all over. That was all I could do as I felt my entire world come crashing around me. Hera was gone and it was all my fault.

Across the galaxy on an unknown Imperial base (Hera's P.O.V.)

It took a while for my eyes to adjust to the light of the room. From the sounds of the room I could tell that I was in some form of Med Bay, but based off of the advanced whirring that actually made the noise it was not hard to figure out that the Med Bay was not one that belongs to any Rebel group.

I tried to sit up only realizing that I couldn't. Not that I was bound to the bed or any other form of means to restrain me. The reason was because I could not physically move. Anything below my neck was absolutely numb, nothing could work. Letting out a noise of frustration to predicament almost caused my eyes to swell with tears. Unfortunately my sounds of a miniature fit alerted the med droid who had been stationed near my bed to "guard" me. "Miss Syndulla", it spoke in an almost condescending tone, "I wouldn't try moving. Your central nervous system had been severed. Attempting to move will only result in failure and disappointment", it continued.

I felt my heart skip a few beats as my brain fully processed the words that the droid spoke. How would I lead my crew if I was paralyzed. From this position I couldn't even fly, hell I can't even hold my own head up what use could I ever be again. Just as my thoughts were about to completely consume me I was interrupted by a voice that I had only heard one other time.

"Don't worry Captain Syndulla, the Empire doesn't intend to keep you in such a pitiful stage of paralysis.", said the voice of the Chiss Admiral as he positioned himself over my bed, allowing me to do nothing more than stare up into his blood red eyes. "You see", said Thrawn continuing, "You are of far too much value to us to keep you in such a vulnerable state of presence. Besides our methods of extracting information from you will actually require you to be able to feel." Then moving away from me and out of my line of vision he spoke to the droid in a rushed and curt tone, "Prepare her for an operation, if she dies i'll leave your parts in three separate systems."

I started to feel panicked for I had no idea what to make of the operation that the Admiral spoke of. Just as my fears were coming to consume my mind the droid injected me with a syringe causing my mind to return to a place of darkness and uncertainty.

 **A/N**

 **I am very sorry for the first couple of chapters being so unbelievably slow but I assure you that it will pick up eventually. I intend for this story to be rather long, getting up into the upper thirties in chapters. I regret to say this but Hera being my favorite character automatically makes her the victim of this story. This story in the next couple of chapters will have multiple triggers such as depression, cutting, rape, and torture. I guarantee you that these themes will NOT be explicit I don't feel that that is necessary for the mood of the story. The next couple of chapters will be rather lengthy and they will incorporate a lot of information that will come up again later in the story, so be prepared.**


	4. Chapter 4

Sabine P.O.V.

After my little more than minor freak out in the Med Station the doctors decided or I should say doctor decided that it would probably be best if I were to recover in the sanctuary of my own room. So that would be exactly what I would do, recover, I am going to get better and the I am going to get Hera back. If she was still alive, if she made it off that wretched shipping center with her life.

As I walked on board the ghost I could hear the crew whispering. Being a teenager myself I knew how whispering and secrets worked so I decided not to make myself known just yet. Walking just into the border of the between the common room and the hallway I pressed myself up against the wall and listened.

"I just don't know if I can forgive her Kanan.", I heard the deep and gruff voice of Zeb hushingly whisper to the other bodies in the room. "I know Zeb", said Kanan replying, "but she felt as if Hera was a mother to her, i'm sure she is hurting as well. Besides we don't even know if Hera is gone." I could feel my heart breaking in my chest. Shattering into the smallest of pieces, becoming so small there was no hopes of ever piecing them back together.

I waited for a moment, hoping, pleading to whomever higher power was listening that they were mistaken, even feeling that in their own words, praying that what I had just heard was not their true feelings. Pausing for a second gathering my courage, pulling myself together just enough to have a brief conversation, just enough so that I could return to my room undetected and allow my true feeling to spill out of me, like a waterfall rushing off of the edge of the cliffs of Naboo. I walked into my room plastering a fake smile onto my face. Faking in general was easy, but holding that act for a lengthy period of time was something far different than just the original impression.

"Hey guys", I said after gathering my courage and walking myself into the common room, in front of my critics. "Hey Sabine", replied Ezra with what I would have thought was a normal amount of enthusiasm had I not just heard the conversation that was spoken. "How are you feeling, taking a bullet to the stomach had to be pretty painful huh.", he said giving me his signature smile. "Ya", I replied trying to force down the edge of bitterness out of my voice, "It was pretty painful so I think I'll be heading to bed now if that is okay with all of you?", I asked desperately hoping that it was. "It's fine Sabine you should get some rest.", said the fatherly voice of Kanan. I gave him a grateful smile as i walked across the room and through the door.

As I left I paused for just a few moments allowing myself to regroup and listen in on the newly forming conversation growing between Kanan and Zeb. "A bullet to the stomach huh,", said Zeb aggressively, "Hera took a bullet to the neck, how dare she walk onto this ship acting like the victim." "Zeb", responded Kanan, "Take it easy on her, you're not wrong Zeb but she has had a rough day." Feeling the tears swell in to my eyes because of the harsh words that were terribly true, I walked to my room as quickly and quietly as possible hoping that I had not been heard.

Finally I reached the sanctuary of my bunk. Barely getting inside the door before I collapsed to the floor, my body racked with sobs. Curling myself in tighter and tighter all I could do was hug my legs and allow my tears to spill down my face. I fell further and further into a state of hopelessness as I tried to gain my feats, tried to crawl back out of a pit that I knew if I fell fully into I would never emerge again. Desperately I tried anything that would bring me back to the reality no matter how painful it was. With one final attempt at resurfacing my brain I pressed the wound on my abdomen. The pain, shocking in its amount, jerked me back to the reality allowing me to fully face the obnoxious colors of my room.

I knew though, that even though I could myself out of the horrible states of sadness they would return because my mother, friend, companion, and leader was gone and it was my fault, and all I could do was sit here and whine about a pathetic stomach wound that was nowhere near as deadly as Hera's wound.

Somewhere on an unknown Imperial Base (Hera's P.O.V.)

I woke up surrounded by a thick bluish/white liquid and an oxygen mask covering the lower half of my face. Bacta. It wasn't my first time inside one of these tanks but it was still surprising that the Imps would use this expensive liquid on someone they considered the scum of the galaxy. To describe the feeling of the liquid that surrounded me warm would be a word that I would use. Warm and comforting, like a hug that healed your injuries and reset your bodily systems.

Suddenly as if the tank I was in had a sensor to let them know that I was awake. The water started to drain. The liquid slowly exited from the tank from smalls holes in the base of it. Once the water was all drained I was beyond relieved to realize that I could stand, move my arms, I was able to do everything that I had been incapable of doing not long ago.

Standing in the tank that was now empty I began to feel very shy. I was barely clad in clothing, with a pair of white spandex covering my lower half and a rather small athletic bra covering my top, leaving my stomach, legs, and arms open to the world. A lot less conservative than the normal flight suit I was used to wearing, but a lot lighter as well. Then the door opened with a band. And four stormtroopers marched with purpose through the doors. One, the clear leader of the bunch, walked towards me and unlocked and opened the door to the now empty bacta tank. The trooper aggressively yanked me out of the door and marched me out of the room that I had been in.

Reaching the hallway we made several turns, that the trooper was oh to happy to aggressively yank me around hard enough for me to stumble on my feet. I tried to pull away several times but it was no use. The troopers grip was like steel and I was still weak from my previous injuries. Finally we arrived at the room that I was supposed to be in. I swallowed, staring at the door, it was an interrogation room and I had a pretty good idea of what was going to happen when I was in there.

One of the other three troopers then stepped forward and produced a card that was to unlock the interrogation chambers door. Taking the only opening I had before I was strapped down on a bed and electrocuted for days on end I attempted to escape. I slammed with all the strength I had in my body into the trooper that held me by the shoulder. I caught him off guard but there was just the slightest flaw in my plan. The fact that this trooper was armed.

He didn't waste a second after he recovered from the initial blow to draw his blaster that was fortunately for me set to stun and shoot me. I hit the floor with a loud thud, twitching slightly from the shot. Just then I could hear footsteps coming towards me. From my position on the floor I could tell that whoever it was was big, and they were not happy. That's when I heard it, the voice that had begun to haunt my dreams, the voice of Grand Admiral Thrawn. "I wouldn't try that again Captain Syndulla.", he purred, delighted to see her in pain, "I would hate to cause another harmful injury to that pretty little body of yours." And with that she was picked up off the ground and prepared for the Empire's not so civilized way of extracting information.


End file.
